Dry Gulch Trail, Durango

Essence: The Dry Gulch Trail utilizes an old wagon supply road that once connected Durango with ranches in the greater Lightner Creek watershed. This is a family-friendly, half-day hike. Begin at the Rockridge Trailhead and turn around as you please or upon reaching Dry Fork Road. The tranquil hike through foothills grassland is prized for its supreme view of North Perins Peak and pristine nature adjacent to town. The entire trek is within the Perins Peak State Wildlife Area, managed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and is open to the public four months annually: August through November. 
Travel to Rockridge Trailhead: From Main Avenue and 25th Street, go west. Pass Miller Middle School and in two blocks, turn left on Clovis Drive. Go up the hill and enter Rockridge. Drive just under a mile and turn right on Tanglewood Drive. Cross a small bridge and take an immediate left. The parking area is on the right.
Travel to the Dry Fork Road Trailhead: Start measuring from the US 550/160 intersection in Durango. Travel 3.3 miles on US 160 West and turn right on Lightner Creek Road, La Plata County Road 207. At 4.3 miles, turn right onto Dry Fork Road, CR 208, a graded dirt road suitable for all vehicles. Take the right fork at 6.3 miles. The west end of the Dry Gulch Trail is at 6.5 miles with a pull-off on the right.
Distance and Elevation Gain Roundtrip: 8.0 miles; 1,250 feet of climbing
Total Time: 3:00 to 4:30
Difficulty: Trail; navigation easy; no exposure
Map: Durango West, Colorado 7.5' USGS Quad, or Apogee Mapping
Winter Closure and Year-Round Restrictions: The Dry Gulch Trail is open for only four months of the year, August 1 through November 30. In the Perins Peak State Wildlife Area public access is prohibited during the closure period to protect wintering big-game and spring-nesting peregrine falcons. No motorized vehicles or mountain bikes. Dogs must be on leash.
Quote: Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed. We need wilderness preserved--as much of it as is still left, and as may kinds--because it was the challenge against which our character as a people was formed. Wallace Stegner

Hikers glance at North Perins Peak while walking through autumn's splendor.

Route: The Dry Gulch Trail is an out-and-back. This description begins at the Rockridge Trailhead and bears northwest but you may begin from the Dry Fork Road. 

Two trails emanate from the Rockridge Trailhead, elevation 6,880 feet. The trail to Perins Peak and North Perins Peak heads west and immediately crosses Dry Gulch. The Dry Gulch Trail bears north and stays on the east side of the drainage. As indicated on the posted sign, mountain bikes and motorized vehicles are prohibited and dogs must remain on leash.

Chet and Eva Thompson settled in Thompson Park in 1870 with 20,000 head of cattle. Their son continued ranching until the late 1960's. The family sold the property to the Colorado Department of Wildlife to keep it undeveloped. Before the land became a wildlife refuge the double-track was open to motorized traffic. In winter, the wide-open hinterland was a training ground for the Durango Nordic team. Now it is stone quiet back in this uninhabited quarter. There are occasional runners and neighborhood dog walkers.

Light-filled grasses imitate the sun-drenched cliff profile of Perins Peak.

When I frequented this pathway at the turn of the millennium it was faint and even nonexistent in places. Because the trail is open to foot traffic only, and so briefly, it still is vulnerable to becoming overgrown and obscured. There were ample opportunities to lose the trail in 2019 after a big winter. Old timers said the luxurious grasses were the tallest they'd ever seen.

The meadowland is framed with aspen and conifer on north-facing slopes. Piñon-juniper and Gambel oak look south.

Tumbled-down stone block masonry is all that remains of a homestead at 1.5 miles. A natural spring feeds a stock pond. It is filled with cattails now but at one time it was a significant water source. This peaceful setting was once a sanctuary for terminally ill people. They raised their own fruits and vegetables; farming implements remain scattered in the woods.

At 1.7 miles, the trail passes north of the North Perins Peak escarpment, the highpoint of the Perins cuesta. The view of the stone blade where scramblers may perch is sensational. (See the link above for directions.)

The valley tightens and the pathway grinds uphill through an old-growth ponderosa forest. At 2.7 miles there is a cattle pond south of the trail in the vicinity of a stately, dead ponderosa, pictured. Ten paces past the tree the trail splits. Take the right branch and climb in the trees a little further until you reach the highpoint of the hike at 2.8 miles, 7,700 feet.

The old trail (shown on the topo) veers southwest from the pond into an open valley, shown. It would be easy to get erroneously drawn onto this loose end that soon peters out.

 
The subtle divide is a typical turn-around location. From here all the gathered water runs west into the Dry Fork of Lightner Creek. There are occasional La Plata Mountain vantage points. Below, Silver Mountain rises above the foliage.

 
Barnroof Point, 8,723', shown, is a few feet higher and due west of North Perins Peak. Descend pleasantly to Dry Fork Road at 4.0 miles, 7,300 feet.

Below, hikers approach the turn-around for this hike. Those who want to put in a long day may turn right on the road and continue 0.6 mile to the Dry Fork Trailhead. The buff Dry Fork Loop trail system is 9.1 miles. The winter closure period is less restrictive: December 1 through April 15.